Museums watch: RASPO

Since its formation in 1997, the Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra (RASPO) has become one of UK’s leading lights in steel pan music.

Taking its name from the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra, which first introduced this home-spun music at the Festival of Britain in 1951, RASPO is a regular musical treat to be heard on Reading’s town centre shopping streets.

Only the most eagleeyed of shoppers will have noticed that the orchestra’s new look T- shirts bear designs which are actually based upon aspects of Reading’s history.

A group of young members of the orchestra’s design team came to Reading Museum for a behind-the-scenes visit, looking for inspiration for a new logo to take to a forthcoming appearance at the Notting Hill Carnival.

They soon hit upon the idea of using objects relating to Reading’s history, also incorporating decorative motifs found on musical artefacts in the Historic World Objects collection, which came to Reading in the late 19th Century from former British Colonies in Africa, South America and the Far East.

Mary Gennis, founder and artistic director of RASPO explains: “Working with the museum made it possible for these young artists to produce some wonderful designs, representing our town’s heritage with a contemporary twist.

"The T shirts really stamp RASPO’s identity, as a part of Reading, wherever we perform.”

Anisha Thomas’s design for the front of the T-Shirt reflects on Reading’s Red-Brick heritage, with a pattern derived from Collier terracotta finials, a familiar architectural feature of Reading’s Victorian housing. Emma Macedo design idea, which graces the back of RASPO's new T-shirt, includes the Huntley & Palmers buckle and garter trademark, which first appeared on advertisements in 1851.

Museum manager Matthew Williams said, “It’s great to see our history being interpreted so imaginatively and I’m sure we will want to add one of the T Shirts to the museum’s collection. Much of our current work is focused on enhancing digital access to the collections and so I’m hopeful about seeing more of this type of activity in the future.”

The Arts Council England funded project has seen a number of groups of young people, who might not otherwise take advantage of museum resources, completing creative exercises at Reading Museum, leading to accredited Bronze and Silver Art Award certificates.